BENTON COUNTY — Benton County officials said use of the BC Alert system was still growing as the severe weather season wound down.

“We’ve got tons and tons of stuff going out constantly,” Josh Billis, county director of emergency communications, said recently.

The system is evolving and its use by cities is expanding to become more of a community information source, Billis said.

“I know Bella Vista uses it if they’ve got a road shut down,” he said, “Little Flock has been sending city meeting notices to people who have signed up for it.”

Billis said the system will become even more userfriendly for cities which choose to remain participants. The first year of operations was paid for by the county when BC Alert system was created. Now cities arebeing asked to share in the cost.

Billis said he’s gotten payments for the second half of 2011 from some cities and verbal assurances from others. If cities choose not to remain in the system, he said the phone numbers and other contact information of those cities’ residents will be removed from the automatic warning system. Individuals may still sign up for alerts on their own.

Decatur, Gentry and Gravette have all opted to continue using the system.

Pea Ridge Mayor Jackie Crabtree said he signed his city up to remain in the system for the rest of the year.Crabtree said he thinks BC Alert is a valuable additional source of information at a reasonable cost to the city. Pea Ridge’s share of costs for Friday through Dec. 31 will be $934, according to information from the county.

“As long as the rates are like they are, we’ll participate inthe system,” Crabtree said.

“I believe it has a lot of value to our citizens,” Crabtree said. “We received calls at home whenever there were severe weather issues. It’s really convenient for us.”

“We can’t go out and invest the money it takes to do storm sirens,” he said. “Plus, with the way new homes are built, if you’re indoors you can’t hear sirens. We need to encourage more people to use this system.”

Centerton Mayor Bill Edwards echoed Crabtree’s view that the system is valuable and needs to be better publicized.

“We’re definitely staying with it through the end of the year,” Edwards said.

Edwards said he likes the adaptability of the BC Alert system, having signed up for several alerts himself.

“I’ve got it set up to let me know when burn bans are on in the county,” Edwards said. “I get lots of calls on those from Centerton residents. Will Hanna, the county’s fire marshal, puts out that information early in the morning and I can respond accordingly.”

Edwards said he expects Centerton to begin using the system for community news, as well as emergency alerts.

“It’s another source for me to get information out to all our residents,” he said. “I think that all these tools together are very useful. But I think the county and the cities both need to promoteit better.”

Billis said county officials plan to work on a public education and awareness campaign.

He said this year’s busy severe weather season allowed the county to see how well the system functions in getting emergency messages out to people. Now, he said, the system can be grown beyond an emergency warning system. Cities will have the ability to put out unlimited voice and data messages without any additional cost, Billis said.

News, Pages 11 on 07/13/2011